Toronto 75 Billy Bishop Way | 164.09m | 49s | Manulife Real Estate | BDP Quadrangle

PEC said:
Where do you see an additional 2,000 parking spaces? Looks like a total of 911 spaces, which would of course replace the existing surface parking.

You won't see any construction starting here before 2038/2039. The majority of the tenants in the plaza have lease terms and extensions totalling 20 years.
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Good to know it will be quite some time. And you are correct about the parking spaces. I did not look closely enough and added the total on the left to the sum of towers A-C.
 
In case you msised it, here's the full story from UT's news page:
urbantoronto.ca

Five Towers Up to 49 Storeys Proposed at Wilson Station | UrbanToronto

A five-tower development is proposed at 75 Billy Bishop Way beside Wilson subway station in North York, replacing a suburban retail plaza with over 2,000 residential units. The five towers would reach up to 49 storeys, potentially the tallest in the immediate area.
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca
 
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Anyone who lives in the area would know that with the recent construction at the station in the past few years there's already 5 condos and a 6th coming up, then just slightly east there were a few more towers built, then the old TTC parking lot is now being demo'ed for another tower with more to come just down the street at Bathurst. Try driving along Wilson now, it's traffic up the wazoo the 2 lanes can barely handle normal day to day let alone busy times. Adding in this many units again without beefing up the road or providing more walkable shops for the residents already living in the area making them need to drive, just feels like bad planning to me.
 
The traffic issues are greatly exaggerated by people who can't figure out how to travel without their cars. Is it busy at peak, yes. Like in any other city. Is it busy outside of those hours, no. There is no "beefing up" the road here. There is no space to do that. To be clear there is no "need" to drive here. It's well serviced by transit options.

At best they could take a car lane and make it transit only, which would result in schreaching from the homeowners who think the road is meant for them alone.

I agree the retail in the area needs to improve greatly. But that only happens when there is enough people to create demand for things other than dentist offices and remittance centres. Once the parkings lots are housing, and the Allen district gets underway, we'll hopefully see more retail in the area.
 
I live nearby and pass by the sector everyday. There is a place that teaches math to kids and teens, A couple of chain restaurants that I visited quite frequently, a generic starbucks, a nice pasta Restaurant that closes very early (Like almost everything in Toronto), a half abandoned jewerly that was victim of an attempted robery early this year and some specialized stores for Pets and such.

Quite honestly, I liked the restaurants but I wont shed a tear for any of those businesses.
 
To be fair, this is the most significant retail expansion the area has seen since I've lived here, (over 20 years now).

It will be a loss, as the rest of the retail offerings in the neighbourhood are frankly abysmal, and this will only drive people further out of the neighbourhood for their retail needs.

That said, this area needs to fulfill its potential with housing density. Ideally they'd work on creating spaces in the base of these towers to accommodate similar retail to return, rather than the usual tiny slivers that only barbers and dentists will occupy.
 
Red October said:
Won't someone please think of the big box store plazas!
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As I understand it, this has nothing to do with the massive StupidCentre next door, but the much smaller, more compact collection of shops to its east. This "plaza" is relatively new and tidy, and is quite busy whenever I pass by or, on the odd occasion, return LCBO empties to the Beer Store or go to Ren's. The plaza seems well-used, certainly not underutilized. It would be wasteful to raze them for another set of residential buildings. Having originally built condos as part of this retail would have been much smarter, especially as the construction of this fell well within the condo boom. A missed opportunity.
As others have mentioned, this area is not well-suited to apartment living, imo, or anything else, really. One goes here to shop, and gets the hell out. Being close to transit is the only advantage. Everything else is unappealing. The huge Stupid Centre next door is of no use whatsoever to anyone on foot, the 401 and Allen are right there to the south and east, the now-disused airport ("beautiful" Downsview Park:rolleyes:) is across the street to the north, and the whole locality is windswept and built for cars.
 
Oh no, the poor NIMBYs will lose out on some shops that, dare I say, are a smidge too close to the subway and highway to be saved!


While I understand the retail offerings elsewhere along this stretch are quite...depressing, the market will adapt for the needs of the apartment neighbourhood thats established itself to the west. This site is simply way too valuable to remain lower density commercial.
 
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